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Writer Paul Cuadros, speaker at yesterday's Appalachian State University convocation, had a lot to say about immigration.

According to Cuadros, the migration of Latino workers to the U.S was
orchestrated both by our government and American corporations. American
agribusinesses were advertising for workers in Mexico, he said, and in
North Carolina, incentives were offered for workers to bring their
families. While this was going on, the North American Free Trade
Agreement had negatively impacted the corn market in Mexico, he said,
causing farmers to go out of business because they could not compete
with tax-subsidized corn from the American market. "There was work to
be done here, and so they came anyway they could," Cuadros said, saying
businesses, nor the American government cared how they got here. If
they did care, Cuadros says "they would have actually provided the
visas for people to come legitimately."
Cuadros alleged the government did not want a legitimate workforce.
"They wanted a disposable one that when they didn't need them anymore,
they could toss them away, or round them up and deport them, just as
you are seeing today," he said.
Cuadros hoped Americans would, instead of being angry at the results, move towards acceptance.
Citizens should work to create a system in which companies that need labor can get legal workers.
It is Cuadros' belief that rather than condemning migrant workers,
citizens need to "reach out." Cuadros went on to say that "a two-fisted
country serves no one."